Demon's Duel
by Col.Foley
Summary: Taking place several hours after the Conclusion of 'The Investigation Thickens' the newly found demon Lord must now fight his way through his remaining enemies, to discover their final secrets. R&R please. Now complete
1. One Last Battle

The Demon Lord, that is suddenly what he was considering himself again, even though he hated that monicker, was driving down a dirt road that led to his residence of the infamous, 'Cameron Holtz' his actual name that he was given from birth

The Demon Lord, that is suddenly what he was considering himself again, even though he hated that moniker, was driving down a dirt road that led to his residence of the infamous, 'Cameron Holtz' his actual name that he was given from birth.

But yet he was better known, as 'Demon Lord' was that was odd being known only to the world as that. As a man who killed other men perfectly. He knew that though. Even though he hated it. And to think, he washed out of his home nations Airforce Academy on a technicality, stole a fighter. And joined the mercenary unit that would lead to the success in the Belkan War.

And his date with renown and infamy.

He arrived on the motorcycle at the slight hill that over looked his secluded place in the mountains. He could see the three room shack. A bedroom/bathroom, kitchen, and living area. He reflected with a frown that if he were able to save Abi in this case he would likely have to move away. Been living here twenty years.

He entered the room after getting off of his bike, no one knew about this place. He made his way over to the Sofa in five long strides, and reached down into the case. Did not do this because of sloppiness, but of need. He needed to hide what he was looking for, he found them and tore them out. The Keys to his F-22 Raptor that he 'borrowed' from the Oseans. In reality it was given to him. But he did not think the Oseans would have liked him to hijack it and take it, never to be seen again.

He walked out into the darkening dusk, the sky was lit yellow and orange just beyond the area, a deep dark blue was throughout the rest of the sky. But he knew that where he was going it would be a little more light. He always preferred to fly in the day.

He went into the cave, and took off the Tarp. Revealing the deadly and accurate Raptor.

This plane was officially a prototype. At least at the start of its life. The last model F-22 that was made before they were going to rush them into full production. They being the Osean Defense Force. Then the Belkan War happened, and they moved this specific one to active duty. Just they did not know where to put it.

But after he liberated Directus, tearing through the enemy formations. They knew. It caused much moaning in the Osean military and Government, they figured that it was going to be given to the top Osean ace. But no such luck. The next day he was presented with it. It was love at first sight.

Which made his wingman just a bit jealous, he never followed up on that.

He would then take the plane into battle, several times. Fighting the good fight. Destroying Excalibur, the XB-O, the Avalon Dam raid, and then he had to kill his best friend in the entire world. That was horrible. All the while he cemented a legend, the legend of him, and his F-22. The same legend that Blaze and Mobius 1 would add onto. The same legend that they would improve upon. Each being legends in their own right, maybe even better then him in some respects, but he was first.

He finished running his hand over the airframe, feeling it. Seeing if he could find any imperfection. And of course there was not.

He then leapt into the plane, and started with his systems checks. Satisfied he turned it on, and taxied down the path he made out of the cave and onto the main road that he used as a runway. Well then, this was it, once more into the sky with him. Could even be his last, hopefully it was, his last time at war, but then again he did say that before.

And it never seemed to quite be true, the infinite hurdle, his planes vibrations forced him back into the real world.

He snapped his head around, looking for any traffic that he might run into, he had so few minutes to do this. But he was ready.

He slammed his throttle forward and his plane rocketed down the road that acted as his runway.

He felt a feeling of exhilaration move throughout his entire body as he thrusted into the sky, and moved up hard. He loved this feeling, the rush. He plain loved to be in the sky, the feeling, and the excitement. It was indescribable what he could do once he was up here. And he had not had this feeling for so long. Not since about two months before this current assignment. Four months. That seemed like ages.

Just after the Belkan War, he disappeared from the map, erased himself with the help of the President of Ustio, as he moved over to intelligence. But there were certain provisions that he asked for, and got accepted by the President.

They were, one: to allow him to have a complete card for military credits. He had unlimited access to his bird for weapons, maintenance, and fuel, should he need it. One of only two people to have such a thing as that. Nothing of a military nature cost him any money. It was the least they could do.

With that thought pushed aside he checked his nav points, and altitude, he frowned and pulled up hard on the stick, going quite fast to thirty thousand feet, and turning to go almost due west. He turned on the autopilot, and set his course to intercept, taking his hands off of the stick. He then made sure he was on super cruise in order to close the distance between him and his target.

His mind at this point started to drift, as he realized what he was doing once more. He started to think about the past. First the last time he was in combat. But more and more his thoughts focused on Abi. She really had become so important to him, as had all of his team. His head was filled with memories from the last few months. Trying desperately to recall everything.

He was loosing himself in the past, in her sweet face, and the debates between him, Hicks, and Harkness.

Starring at the hurtling Earth below.

"_Can you see any borders up here buddy?"_ He heard the voice of his former squad mate say once.

And no you could not, but that did not matter. They were not right. But then again, neither perhaps was the side he used to fight for.

At least he had a just cause now. Saving a person he loved.

That war took so much personal sacrifice from him. And he wondered if he came through that war with anywhere near most of his soul intact. He loved to fly, and even enjoyed flying in the skies of combat, the excitement of it. But, he hated the aftermath, the dreams and nightmares that still haunted him. The pieces of his soul that were missing after the realization that he mercilessly hunted down his fellow man, his cause may have been just, but that did not prevent any of this.

He was brought back to reality by a beep, and then another, and another, and finally four consecutive beeps. He looked down at his board and found his targets there, still a good fifteen miles off before he was in engagement range. His head snapped forward as he looked out over the empty sky, his eyes scanning the area behind his oxygen mask. He made his decision

He threw off the autopilot, and went to full burners for a short burst, bringing him up to Mach two in a second. Close enough to identify his targets as three SU-47s, and the mother of all Cargo planes, the C-130.

He adjusted his course slightly to try and intercept them before they got any farther to their destination, wondering what he should do. They could not have detected him with their radar at this distance.

He made his decision, he tapped his control throttle forward as he went to a slight twenty second burn on after burners, just moving up past Mach 1.5 as he closed the distance. And then he clicked the mike on.

"This is Lt. Col. Cameron Holtz of the Ustian Airforce calling leakers, you are in restricted airspace, you will surrender yourselves and your prisoner now."

"Ah. Demon Lord." A familiar voice responded to him.

"I am not the Demon Lord, I am a Colonel in the Ustain Airforce."

"You are flying that plane, and you answered our summons." The man on the other end said again as the three SU-47s turned toward him.

"True…."

"And even if you are not, you have not flown a plane in years, intelligence agent, which suggests with your skill in getting here that you are the Demon Lord. The evidence is mounting against you Cameron Holtz."

He then heard a clicking and shuffling on the other end of the line, then he heard another female voice come on, that made his heart jump. "Cameron, I have…uh…. sorry…but I have figured it out…if it is the last thing I tell you."

"Abi, are you alright?" He asked.

"Yes, I am fine. Please." That was all, as he heard the same shuffling.

"Yes, she is, but she will not be for long Demon Lord. Unless you of course surrender."

He then knew where he had heard that voice before. "Doctor Kaufer?! No I will not surrender."

"Ah. You have figured it out. Or at least part of it. Pilots," he said with derision, "even ones with such renown as the Demon Lord are not the brightest tools in the bunch."

"Dr…. what is your plan? Why?-"

"Why did we do it?" he laughed, with venom. "To catch you of course, to get you out of hiding, we knew that we would never be able to find you if journalists and governments have tried for 20 years. So we made up a threat to have your government to find you. And then to kill you."

"But why do the Belkans need an engineer like you anyway?"

"Oh yes, now we come to it. The secret experiment. You see, what they need me for is a very selective brain washing machine, a Doctor and me are putting it together. Without you to stop us we can convert anyone and anything, in any seat of government, or power, to do our bidding. The whole of Ustio will collapse. So do you surrender?"

"No." The cold adrenaline started to pump through his veins, that stuff of determination that he began to adopt toward the end of the war. The first time was when he saw the nukes go off, never again, and then when he flew against XB-O.

The SU-47s once more began to fly directly at him, gaining such speed as they charged at him. He heard a warning tone go off.

He checked his radar as he then saw twelve missile blips appear on it, as each one of the planes detached their first salvo or ordinance. He so hoped they were not the special kind, only one way to find that out.

He inverted his plane and dove for the deck hard as he could, loosing altitude fast as he did this, he retched on his afterburners ah he could feel his straps tighten at the high g turn, cutting into him.

He watched the hurtling Earth now above him, as he was judging his turn based on that distance, and not what his instruments were telling him. The warning alarms were going on in his headset as the missiles went into a crescent moon formation and began to fall on him, all of them were now falling on top of him, he was dead in their sights.

He then reverted his planes, just clearing the rocks below, as he began to look for places to run now that he was down on the deck. The missiles would be hitting him any second, and he needed to find something in order to loose their advanced systems. He had gained several key seconds in the reckless dive. But they were being eaten up.

He saw something, and turned for it, the only way to beat these missiles would be to try to get them to fall off of him by confusing their sensors. He accelerated ahead to the mountain, revving up his after burners as he screamed over the planes. The missiles were now down into kill mode. He would have to time it just perfectly.

He started to pull up slightly as the mountain was filling his cockpit window, his airspeed read roughly mach 1.8 as he…

Doctor Kaufer was staring down on the same mountain as he saw the area around it light up in one giant fireball.

"Is that confirmed?" He heard a male voice ask.

"That is, I do not have anything on radar." A female pilot reported.

"Then we did it, we killed the Demon Lord." The original voice said in amazement.

"Yahoo!" A second male voice said.

"Alright, let us get back into formation, we still have this package to deliver to base." The lead pilot said to the others cool and professional.

The people in the cabin of the cargo plane looked around at each other, smiling. They did it.

"Soon my dear, it is going to be so fun breaking you."

"I will never do it." She said shakily.

He ran a hand across her cheek. "Oh, but you will-"

An explosion to his left made his head snap around as he saw another missile slam into the SU-47 on the left, causing it to fall out of the sky.

Cameron was indeed still alive. Climbing rapidly into the air, after taking his chance he rose fast. Then he turned on his radar just as he entered a range, a tricky shot but it did work.

He was rising straight up as the debris began to fall, a puff of smoke and cloud obstructing his view, as the main part of the wreck came out of it falling down in a heap. His eyes widened behind his oxygen mask, as he had to wrench his control stick, rolling the plane hard, the G forces threatening to rip his plane apart. As he heard taps against his plane as debris hit, the main wreckage missing the bay that contained his missiles by mere inches.

He then looked down beyond his ejection seat as he saw the two remaining bandits turn left and right, as they both climbed up to meet him. He was soon going to run out of room.

He then made yet another tactical decision. He powered the stick into his body as he brought the plane down into a direct loop. He was now pointing back at the ground, his speed rising rapidly as he passed Mach one with a boom again. He was pointing right at the two rising Belkan aces, their noses rising up to meet him.

He knew that he was not in position to make a direct frontal shoot and pass, that Mobius one actually invented not him. But he hoped that they did not have the same time either to set it up on him. He would make it harder on them. He threw his burners into full power.

He fell out of the sky, on top of his opponents, they had to spin out of the way as he shot right through them. Hurtling toward the small Earth below him, he loved his view from up here, he could just make out the C-130 as it was trying to leave the area in a huff.

He then pulled up hard on his stick, and opened his breaks, and cut his speed off, as his hands danced across his controls, and ran the piccolo.

His fighter bottomed out on him. Quickly.

His eyes searched around his controls making sure that he did not break anything, confirming that he took no damage, as it felt like he was about to come out of his seat as he pulled that radical negative Gs. Nothing was going on that he could see. He checked his radar as the two of his opponents were trying to follow him now, both cautiously looping. He turned back on his burners and was slammed back as he got his air speed back up above mach one.

The bandits sneaked in on his six, as perhaps he was not maneuvering as he should, but he had a plan.

He let them get comfortable for a few more seconds, and then he juked right, bringing his plane around in a simple right hand turn, and down. They followed.

He then stopped mid turn, slammed his throttle into full power and made a radical left hand turn. He was moving left and climbing as he did so, making one radical roller coaster like loop, arching in the sky hard. As he was literally forced into his feet.

The enemy tried to follow him, and one did a pretty good job at it, as he was now completing his loop, switching back to sidewinders as he did so.

He then completed his loop as he adjusted his course, taking him right behind the other fighter, as she dived. He reversed, added some speed, and dove with her. Picking up speed as he did so. Why he cut speed earlier, he was making sure he did not over shoot.

He stayed with her, as the plane danced in and out of his HUD, but yet he was able to stay behind, with no idea where the other one was. He could wait her out.

He did as she had to pull up hard in order to stop from slamming into the rocks below, he spun around bringing his plane in a graceful downward spin right on top of her, and behind. The tone sounded immediately.

He pressed the trigger twice. Sending two missiles into her tail pipe as she exploded with a scream. Only one left.

He then leveled off, rising slightly as he watched the debris fall down toward the Earth, lazily, just seconds before it was a multi million-dollar war machine.

He stayed level for about a second too long. As the warning alarm blared in his head set, he wrenched around to look at the avenging wingman as he shot.

Cameron threw his stick down and to the left, as the plane rolled and accelerated at the Earth, throwing off the missile lock, but not the fighter that was now locked onto his tail. Like a Dog to a mean mailman.

Cameron edged left and right throwing the plane into radical maneuvering, trying to stay one step ahead of the ace pilot. He followed and stayed with him.

He saw a missile release warning and twisted his stick inverting his plane, then reverting it the other way. He saw the missile go streaking into the sky. His eyes going wide again under his mask as another was launched. He accelerated and edged the wing a little up, that missile missed as well.

He then had to maneuver clear as the guy reloaded, he checked behind him all the time. And he was still on him as…. his warning alarms sounded again, and another close miss as he cut power and made them over shoot, but not his eager opponent.

This would happen three more times, each time the missile only avoided him by inches.

Then it happened. The enemy got off two more shots at him, one missed, but the other slammed into his left wind causing him to rise again. Alarms sounded all over his control panels. As the enemy then squeezed a burst into his right flap, the control stick started to shake.

The board in front of him for damage lit up red and went instantly to 69, as well as he was loosing hydraulic fuel. Not a good thing at all. He had to end this fast.

He looked behind him again, and saw his opponent there, no less then a mile away. Closing on him fast. Wanting and needing the kill, his last bit of deperation occurred to him as he realized he was in the Jet Stream.

He checked his instruments as another burst went whizzing by the airframe. He then said a quick prayer…had not done that in twenty years…. and threw the throttle back toward him, and the stick back as well.

His speed was cut, and he flew up into the air, letting the wind almost push him back without his speed, just maintaining enough to sat airborne. He inverted his plane as the alarms screamed at him again as he was stalling. He looked left as the SU-47 tried to compensate but just ended up flying right on through.

Cameron then threw his throttle forward as the plane leapt forward eagerly, the speed gauge shooting up to near mach speeds.

His eyes snapped open as he pushed down on the weapon select button loading the long range AMRAAMs as the SU-47 was making a radical turn heading for the dirt, Cameron followed him. Now his Raptor was the predator he was born to be. It was so cold. Everything he was, was reverted to the past, he was now back in his mode in the Belkan War. Just one press of the button.

The steady beeping in his head set greeted his ears, as the diamond of the radar lock was trying to trace in the sky, of his enemy's bird. The two met in the sky, and the Demon Lord, with one pang of conscience despite of everything, once more being in the skies of battle, he pressed the button.

The missile dropped free of his plane, and it shuddered gratefully in response. Glad to be momentarily free of the weight.

The missile tracked across the sky, the smoke plume following it as it moved to intercept. But this was not good enough for Cameron Holtz. He wretched the throttle forward, pouncing on his enemy. Just as his shot missed due to a masterful maneuver, but Holtz was there, waiting, Sidewinders prepped.

The guy straightened out, probably breathing a sigh of relief. He pressed his trigger two more times as his headset screamed in the lock on.

He did another impressive invasive, throwing off yet one more of the missile, but the other one his him dead center, causing the plane to stutter almost out of the sky. Holtz leaped on him, guns blazing. He did not miss. His opponent was turned into a flaming fireball, exploding down toward the ground.

He then checked across his radar, looking for the fleeing C-130. He found it, and his eyes widened. It was less then seven miles from the Belkan border….Osean, whatever. But they had radar powerful enough to detect even a stealth. Especially his damaged one. If he crossed he would be shot down for violating the airspace.

He adjusted his throttle and sped after the plane, flying at near Mach one the whole way, wondering what he was going to do when he caught up.

He heard his radio come to life…he was thinking about putting a sidewinder right up its engine. "You can't shoot at us Cameron. Your love is aboard. And any shrapnel caused be an explosion…or a bullet…will kill her."

"Don't worry about me Cam! Shoot us down!" He heard her scream in the background which was followed up by a scream of pain.

"Your choice Colonel." The radio clicked off, and Cameron let go of the stick. His mind racing once more.

He then considered something, by far his most dangerous maneuver to date, if he timed this wrong, he she and they would die. He began searching the ground, found a slightly paved highway. It would have to do.

He pulled up behind the C-130, and prayed yet again. He rolled slightly to the top of it, bringing his plane just above its flaps.

He edged the plane forward ever so slightly. Getting above the plane. Soon he was slightly in front of the cockpit, and above it, making sure he could be seen.

Another quick prayer was said by him. And then he edged the stick down on top of the C-130.

The Pilot panicked, and went down. Holtz was forcing the plane down on the ground below. Slowly. He could make out a struggle going on for control of the aircraft. It continued to go down, now a lot more rapidly. As they were both nearly pointing to the ground.

The pilot then did a radical turn up, as he was now committed to landing, tried to level out and throw down his gear to break his sudden fall.

Holtz watched in horror as the plane then collapsed in the dirt and ground, as the wheels gave way under the sudden weight, causing the plane to skid sickenly on three miles of real estate.

He looked around, and found an almost dirt path. His stomach did lurch a bit, but there was no other way he could see around it.

He went down to the deck, as he cut his speed to the bare minimum to stay in the air, as he came down, steadily, slowly, and then…. touchdown. It was slow but yet the plane still shook like an Earthquake.

His damage indicator went up again, there was no way that he could risk taking off again at the moment. He would have to repair it.

He then popped the cockpit, and scrambled out of it.

He went over to the cargo compartment that he built into the plane. It was so small, but big enough for his needs. He withdrew the P-90 SMG, and gave it a once over, before loading in a magazine, and loading a round into the chamber.

He then moved to jog over to the crashed C-130, as it was face down in the mountainous dirt around it. He was moving cautiously.

Then a man opened up the back door to the plane and came stumbling out, AK-74 in hand. The Demon Lord quickly put his weapon up to his shoulder and fired, most of the bullets went wide, but enough of them hit to cause the opponent to go down in the dirt.

He then approached the cabin quickly, and cautiously, going up into the plane with his gun leading, he heard a noise on his right and saw Doctor Kaufer using Abi as a human shield, protecting his scrawny frame behind her.

"Let her go!"

"No!" You will drop your weapon and surrender to me now!"

"I do not think so."

"She will die."

"Just shoot Cam…what are you waiting for? Do not worry about hitting me, I do not even want to spend one moment like this."

Cameron in a small flash recognized the movie like quality this whole scene displayed, but that was not going to help him out so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

He did not trust himself. And he did not want to hit Abi, especially considering that Kaufer was hiding so well behind her.

He then fired, right at his ear, and the bullet went right where he wanted it to, killing him, puffing red behind Abi, dragging her down with him for a second.

She then got up, and ran into his arms, he had to put the P-90 on safety real fast as he tossed it to the ground. She stumbled there, and he had to help her keep from loosing his balance.

All was once again right with his world. Hopefully forever now. And now, it was time to decide what his next move was going to be.


	2. The Conclusion of a Twenty Year Epic

It was now three days later, after the biggest dogfight of his life for the last twenty years

It was now three days later, after the biggest dogfight of his life for the last twenty years. And they were still in his cabin. Debating what to do, and how he was going to go back and tell the world about him. For he did decide that was what he was going to do. His past had caught up with him at last, and his hiding proved to be a failure, nearly resulting in the death…or much much worse, of the woman he now loved.

But he was still completely dreading it.

He rolled over on his single mattress, and as always-expected Abi to be there, even though he knew that it was not big enough for the both of them.

He threw off his sheets and sat up right for a second. He rubbed his hands over his face, causing his hair to spike slightly, he sat there for a second like that. Hoping that he could hold off this day for all of time, now that he made up his mind that he was going to do it.

He went to the door, and turned to look left into his living room. Resting slightly on the doorframe as he was enjoying the peace of the last few moments. There Abi was, starring blankly at the TV, in nothing but her underwear.

He went into the kitchen next, and got out a pan, and some eggs, which he cracked open on it, he was going to make Pancakes. A nice fit last meal as it were. At least it was not his Last Supper.

He could feel her eyes on the back of his head, curiously taking him in from the couch, and then turning back to watching the sci-fi program that she seemed to be so engrossed in. He could just make out the sounds of laser beams, or particle beams, or plasma beams, from the room.

He cooked quickly and expertly, it truly did surprise him how well you could get at this if you only had yourself to rely on, and of course an electric oven.

He finished and began to set up the dining room for another breakfast for two.

When he was moving to place the last plate down on the space that was facing the living room he felt her arms go around him, bringing him in close, he put the plate down and twisted around in them.

He stood there for a second, taking her in contently, and she was doing the same thing to him. He then gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Uh…breakfast is served." He said in his best Butler voice.

"I can see this." Her features cracked open into a witty and amused smile.

They separated and he pulled out her chair, and she sat down in it.

He scrambled over to the other side, and they started to eat.

The first part of the meal passed in impenetrable silence. As Holtz did not seem to be in much of a talking mood at the moment. Just wanting to hear what he could at that moment in time. Again holding off the inevitable.

But finally he couldn't, and with a sigh he placed his fork on his plate, that still had about half the plate filled with a pancake, and moved to fix Abi in a stare.

She did not seem to notice, still elegantly shoveling food into her mouth, but then she realized with a start. And looked at him, a Fork still protruding from her mouth in her hand as she was about to take another bite.

"I have decided that today we are going to go back to civilization."

She put her food down, and made a gulping noise. "Its about time." She said, but with mirth more then offense.

" I know, I know." He said looking down at his plate as he moved to finish.

The rest of the meal passed in complete silence as they finished up.

They then moved to get dress for their long ride. All of her clothes were ready and washed. She put them on and smiled at him. He finished. And she held out her hand for him, they walked together to the motorcycle like that. The first stage of the long journey back to Civilization.

They got on, her on back, him on front. Unfortunately he only had the one helmet. He drove down to the lot quickly, while she wrapped her arms around his midsection while he drove on down. Both to help keep her on, and the usual.

They then got to the car, as they drove once more back into town.

In that town, Colonel Harkness was standing around, pacing back and forth in the library. Wondering what the hell happened with his team. They were now…out there. One was dead, and now the two of them were missing. For quite awhile now.

And he could not do anything. That was the job of the SAR units that Ustio had operating.

And there were reports of an air battle somewhere up North West of them, that was giving the rest of the Military worries. And so they were now nearly up into full mobilization.

His pacing was growing more and more furious, as he aimed the kick at the table he was walking by.

Ortiz and Shea looked at each other worriedly. Knowing that something was eating at their commanding officer.

Harkness then heard steps on the door outside. And turned curiously to it.

Cameron and Abi were now slowly walking down them, the stairs to the main base in the library. The head librarian looked at them curiously as they entered the building.

She put her arm across him, preventing him from going in, her other arm was busy being through his. "You sure about this?" She asked nervously.

His word came out as a single sigh. "Yeah."

They entered.

Colonel Harkness upon seeing them… his mouth dropped open slightly as he saw the two of them, his brain stuttering to come up with a response. "What is the meaning of this?" He asked in that tone of voice. And then waited for a reply that at first looked like was not going to come at first.

"Sir" Holtz said simply.

"Sir," Abi said with a nod, but her chin struck Holtz's arm, she then let go of him flushing slightly.

"I will ask again, what is-"

"Sir." Holtz said silencing him, he shot a dirty look at his second. "I am the Demon Lord."

Ortiz shot him a look, his eyes widening, he staying in his seat.

Shea jolted up out of his chair in a second, knocking it over, looking at the both of them with a shocked reverence.

Harkness just looked between the two of them, his mouth moving agape. And then he closed it completely. A smirk taking its place. "Yeah I bet, I mean you…the Demon Lord."

"Ask me anything sir, something that only he would know."

Harkness thought about that for a second, and then smiled up at the ace.

"Alright. That mission where we went to bomb that town, when our people were moving up North to make that final push on Belka. You came back with a broken plane. What did I tell you?"

It took him only ten second to recall. "Yeah, I remember that. I took a missile hit from a lucky A-10 on making my assault run on a surface to air missile site. It exploded almost on top of my, caused a whole lot of damage. I shot both it down, and blew up the site. Then I went after a munition's factory. Flew a little too low, and I did not expect that sort of fireball from my missile. I hit it, and the planes nicked the bottom of the plane. Causing me and it to get a bit singed. Boy did you berate me for that. And I could not get over that fact myself. Beat myself up continually about it, until my next mission. Snapped at you when you reminded me to be careful, you did not deserve that."

Harkness froze now, looking at them, with wide eyes. The man he was hunting was in front of him for all of time.

Finally he took a phone that was offered by Shea for the last five minutes, and placed a call to his superiors. The call that would change everything in Holtz's life.

The next month or so was a blurry haze for the middle-aged pilot. As he quickly was debriefed, and interviewed by several dozens of people. Most of them from the military, trying to determine what he did over the last twenty years. Even though ironically most of it was available for review by the Senate oversight committee on intelligence. Even though he hated to admit it, his ultimate boss. More so then the President was his ultimate boss when he flew in the skies of battle.

The only real constant, to keep him sane and lucid during this whole experience was Abi.

During this their love would coalesce, deepen, and mature. They knew that they loved each other before all of this, but now they had the conformation of that. Holtz was still puzzling over what he was going to do about it.

But then it happened, one month and one day exactly after the air battle, after Abi figured out who he was. The public announcement was made, the Demon Lord had been found at last. And now the feeding frenzy was going to begin, or so the Demon Lord thought.

He was pleasantly surprised when that did not happen, sure in the first day he got ten e-mails from ten different news agencies, national, international, local, and even an Osean one, to do an interview. But he saw something that he realized would give him an out. Number four on the list was the newspaper that Hicks was working for. Someone had put the pieces together, or was leaked the information from someone, and decided that they had to interview this man.

He opened the mail, and was mildly shocked to see that it was not a real request. More of a plea. On the behalf of there fallen journalist. It was actually shocking to read the fine print on the matter. He could not make up his mind if this was just some trick to get him to do an interview with them only, but he decided he did not care. No matter what their real reason, and this still could be it, he owed it to Hicks to at least give the man that he came to respect _something_ this was it.

They scheduled the interview for the following week, sweeps week as it turned out, and they were really curious to meet him.

Holts passed the time going through all the area that he could find. Exploring things now, as part of yet another new life. The life of a well known man. The life of the Demon Lord. He did not like it, or dislike it. It was just the same as any of his other previous experiences.

In the middle of the week Abi had to go back to work. She was still on the payroll and she spent enough time away from her desk due to trying to hunt him down that things were starting to pile up on them, and they needed to get her help back.

Although there was a promised promotion to Captain waiting in the wings for her as soon as she got back to the general military.

He did not know what his future contained.

He considered himself extremely lucky even to make it to Colonel. Especially out of the field of flying that he chose so long ago.

He was now walking down the sidewalk, to go back once more into his temporary hotel, he saw one girl shoot looks at him, she could not have been more then nineteen years old. She probably heard about his exploits during a history class. The savior of her nation.

He entered his room, and flopped down on the bed, with thoughts once more going to that he would have to find a larger place when all this was over for what he intended to do with the rest of his life.

The day of the interview dawned bright and early. He got into his airforce best, and drove down to where they said they would conduct it.

He was a little surprised and unnerved to see a TV crew there. Right behind them, on both sides. Watching.

"What are they doing here?" He asked pointing to the one behind the interviewer.

"Them? Nothing, just here to help. We have come to use them because our brains possibly cannot get everything in this interview. And we can go back and get all the details that we forgot."

"Ah." He said, sitting down, waiting for the person across from him to begin.

The interviewer set the tape going. "So, what did you think of Hicks?" He asked.

The question surprised him greatly, but he moved to answer. Thinking about it for a long while. "I thought he was a great and honorable man. The most decent man of this profession I have ever met. He worked hard, in his own way, and generally had his own system that worked only for him. But over time I did come to respect that system, even though I did not like it at first."

"Ah." The reporter at this point looked contemplative. Like he was trying to remember something, or wonder if he should go onto the next question or not. "So, what was it like during the Belkan war?"

Holtz started out his answer almost instantly. "It was a war. Just like any other, all the horror of it. War is only that. But, for me, it was a mixture of that horror, and the triumph and exhilaration. Because on the one hand, you are killing people, blowing them out of the sky, defending yourself, and your wing mate. Or people below from a Tank, or a rocket, or an APC. And that is noble. But there is always the exhilaration during that fight, the triumph as your missiles hit the plane ripping it to shreds. I cannot admit to the horrors without admitting to that glory that I felt, that we all felt at one time or another. But then, it sunk in, for me, what I had done, ended the life of another human being. All he was. In that war, and his life."

Holtz held up a finger as he indicated that he had more to say on the subject as he took a drink from a glass of water. And then he continued. "At first it really did not bother me, it was a philosophical exercise that occurs to people. But then the Belkans nuked themselves. Right in front of me. The worse day of my life up until that point. I continued to fight, and fight well. But something felt different. Something was nagging at me throughout the rest of the war, it would take hold against XB-O, just one long weariness. One long nightmare. And then I shot down my best friend. And that was it, I could not run from my ghosts anymore, so I hid. Doing a duty the best I could."

"Why did you choose to hide in intelligence?"

"Well I still wanted to make a living, I did not want to go back to nature and become a hippie." Both he and the reporter had to stifle a laugh. "But I did not want to do something that was that intensive, or something that could either lead to combat, or get me transferred back to a combat command. And you have to remember, at that point in time our intelligence forces did not exist, they were still new and in the planning stages. So they needed good officers, and if you showed yourself adept, you would not likely be removed. And that is what I set myself up as. I was surprised though at how fast I rose through the ranks."

The rest of the interview passed quickly enough. He was asked several more general-purpose questions, none as personal as the three that he was asked to start off the process with.

Afterward he went to the Deli across the street from the Newspapers HQ to get himself a sandwich. The sandwich itself was quite expensive. But Holtz decided that he was starving, and decided that it would be worth it. Especially on today.

After that he looked up the location on the nearest Jewelers in the phone book. They were only about a mile and a half away from the Deli. He decided to walk that distance.

When he got there he went straight in without hesitation, and moved right on to the area that he was looking for. He spent nearly twenty full minutes looking at every single item that they had in his category. Finally he found what he was looking for, picked it up, made sure the size was right, and then went to check it out. Paying cash as he did so.

He then got out his cell phone, and called Abi.

"Hello?" She said.

"Hey it's me Cameron. What are you doing tonight?"

"Nothing really"

"Dinner?"

"I would love some." She said. "See you around eight."

"Yeah." He said hanging up.

He spent the rest of the day cooking, and preparing. Going overboard on everything that he was doing. Putting it all out of any proportion. Fixing everything that he could just so, and a bit surreal. He figured that was the way that one should do these things.

He had not done this in so long.

Not that he even really done it ever exactly in this fashion, or what he was doing. But now was the time to learn. And to do it right. He was sure she would understand anyway.

Now all he had to do was wait for her to show up, this last little moment before everything for him changed again. He was breathing deeply. Taking it all in, and then he heard the doorbell.

He went over to it, and opened. There she was. In her beautiful and tight black dress. She came into the room, and smiled at him, then took in the rest of the room, and looked surprised at what she saw.

"Wow…Cameron…this is…this is great." She said, and then she smirked at him.

She went to go sit down, he held her chair out for her as she did. Her surprise, pleasant though it was, was mounting more and more with each passing minute.

Dinner went smoothly enough. They both enjoyed the meal, and the company of each other. They did not say much, but in this case, that was not necessary. At the end of it, they were both stuffed from the meal.

They then went to go sit down on the bed in the main room of the hotel room that they were now in. They sat there for a long minute, Abi's head on Cameron's shoulder. Gently resting there. He did not want to really interrupt it, but he also did not want to loose this chance…or his nerve.

He finally started to rifle through the bed mattress, where he hid it, she got up and looked at what he was doing curiously. Finally he did find what he was looking for, Abi recognized the box instantly and froze, hardly daring to believe it. Even though they had come to this conclusion so long ago.

He showed it to her, and it was indeed a ring. A scrappy ring in her estimation. But a perfect one for a colonel in intelligence could provide.

Before he was even able to ask the question, she nearly tackled him to the bed, her arms swinging around her neck. She was breathing her acceptance into his ear, as the two of them stayed there for several long minutes.

The wedding was set up for another six months from the present time. They had to wait, and make sure that they felt what they thought they felt. Even though they were pretty sure. Also, they had to track down their parents.

Abi only had her mother still living, most of the rest of her family was scattered around the world now. Her father had died in the war. He was a Belkan sympathizer, who was hit by an air to air missile as it failed to score a hit on an Allied aircraft. Shot by a Belkan. The ultimate irony. Her mother had then assumed a non-political stance about everything. But her daughter wanted, thirsted to join the forces of this new Democracy that she loved. And she did, over her mother's objections. They still got along well.

He was not sure if he himself had anyone left. He had not talked with his parents in soo long, ever since he joined the ranks of the mercenaries. Not that he got a long with them at all in the first place. They threatened several times to have him disowned. It never happened. Nor did he have much interest to find them again.

It would be surreal. Too many lives and life moments all coming together at the same time. Abi wanted to meet them though. But, on this he was not going to give in.

They were going to get married at the local church in Directus. On that day, six months from now.

What surprised Holtz, and in a distant way Abi, was how much planning was actually had to be done in order to actually get this process over with. Not the least of which was the fact that Holtz would have to resign his current commission should he actually need to do it. But the rest of the arrangements he was being forced to make only kept it in the back of his head.

But he did not mind retiring. He did not want to be in the airforce, any longer, and he did not want to continue to fight in another potential battle. That would almost certainly happen if he stayed in the airforce.

But as with all things. He did not get his way completely this time.

He was walking into an airbase one day, the main base that they were using for intelligence operations throughout the world. He was still technically on the pay roll, even though he did not have an assignment.

He was walking down a corridor, when Ortiz came around and bumped into him hard. He nearly lost his balance.

"Cameron."

"Ortiz."

Holtz moved as though he were going to continue on his way.

"Sir, I have something for you…General Moore has been looking for you. And apparently General Taylor is retiring at the end of the year. The Brigadeer-"

"Yeah. I know who he is."

"Well, Moore thinks you will be perfect for his replacement."

"What?" Holtz could not believe it. General Taylor was in charge of the airbase that was in charge of the capitol district air defense command. Nearly 70 fighters, Attackers, and light bombers would be under his permanent command. Not all were under his command. The actual commander of the air district was a LT. General Young. Now he controlled everything, but he was the field commander, Holtz would have it all. And, he could marry within the military, she was intelligence and no longer in the same line of command, he could stay in the military, a preferred option, and he would not have to fly again. The last part sucked, well he could fly, test things, and take things out for the occasional joy ride. Always with the back up of a ready squadron if he needed it.

"Well, where do I sign up?" He asked.

General Taylor met with him, and decided that he was the right man for a job. And now the man who never thought he would make it far in any military. Actually washed out of his original one, only could make it to Captain back as the Demon Lord, now he was beyond a Colonel, but would now have stars on his shoulder.

The remainder of the two months passed at a lightning pace, now that he had everything done, and waiting. It seemed like time was rushing to get it over with. With a whole lot of excitement. The only thing that really remained was the turn over of the base to its new commander. But all of this Taylor took care of.

The day of the wedding was beautiful, straight blue sky, only thin wisps of cloud up at around 30,000 feet. Nice and bright. Perfect conditions for a wedding outside.

Abi of course wore white to the event. And it was one of the happiest moments of both of their lives. They were so happy. As the pictures attested to. Holtz even laughed. Which shocked his one colleague there from intelligence who had never seen Holtz laugh in all that while.

Their honeymoon passed quickly. Only three days, not much you could do, but they did make the best of it.

After that, they returned to Directus, where Colonel Holtz became General, and the base was signed off to his care, and his personal command. Abi was there in her Airforce best, as was Holtz. After a little speech, the crowd broke up.

And they returned to their new house.

The old life was now left behind him, as he now began the first days of his new life, and his new journey.


End file.
